What’s the best video length for each social media platform?

We all know the importance of videos in our marketing mix. It is estimated that by 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Currently 55% of people watch videos online every day and viewers retain 95% of a messagewhen they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.

So we know we need to be making videos to share on our social media platforms, but what’s the optimum video length? In general, shorter is better when it comes to video production. These are our recommendations for our favourite platforms:

Facebook – Facebook videos should be no more than two minutes long as studies have found our attention falls off after this time. In fact, HubSpot has found that videos that are 1 minute in length get the best interactions on Facebook. Short videos that are fun and/or informative work well on this platform. They also need to be easy to understand without the sound switched on as Facebook will autoplay the video without sound first, so consider the use of subtitles. It is also better to upload your video directly to Facebook, for improved post reach.

Twitter – Videos on Twitter should be no more than 45 seconds in length. HubSpot calculated that Twitter’s #VideoOfTheDay averaged 43 seconds. Consider using videos on Twitter as a way to “tease” full-length content.

Instagram – Videos on Instagram should be no more than 60 seconds in length. However, we suggest aiming for 30 seconds. HubSpot discovered that Instagram videos that received the most comments averaged 26 seconds. They need to be visual to grab the attention of viewers so make use of tools such as time-lapse and boomerang. We also recommend you use plenty of relevant hashtags on Instagram to help your video get found. Instagram recently increased the upper limit of video length, but we still recommend keeping your videos short and to the point on this platform.

YouTube – Keep your videos around the two-minute mark for YouTube. YouTube lends itself to more in-depth content such as product demos, how-to tutorials, FAQ sessions, video blogs (vlogs) and voiceovers. Users like spending time on YouTube because they can easily find specific topics or watch their favourite YouTuber. This is the one platform where longer videos can work well.

LinkedIn – Videos on LinkedIn can be up to 10 minutes in length, but we recommend 30 seconds to 5 minutes to work best, depending on the topic. Try and get your key message and “hook” within the first 10 seconds of the video to grab the attention of your audience.

Google My Business – You can now add short videos to your Google My Business listing which is a great way to make your listing stand out from the crowd and more importantly, to keep ahead of the competition. These need to be short, sharp messages, ideally around 30 seconds.

In summary, when it comes to video production, we think shorter is better. If you’d like to find out more about making videos for your business and how to get them in front of your target audience, we run group workshops. Please get in touch for more information.